The Loyal One
by maymayt
Summary: Zuko and Iroh are about to get on a boat to Ba Sing Se when Iroh, being the nice person that he is, let a girl get on in his place. There's just one thing, the girl knows that Zuko's the prince and she doesn't intend on leaving him.
1. Chapter 1

The girl behind me sighed. We were in line to get on a ferry to Ba Sing Se, and it was moving dreadfully slow. After what seemed like eternity, but was only about ten minutes in reality, my uncle and I got onto the boat.

"Hey!" I heard a girl yell. "That's not fair! I bought a ticket! You can't just not let me get on the boat!"

"We don't have any more room for the rest of you! Catch the next ferry!"

"Here." I heard an unpleasantly familiar voice say. "She can get on in my place." I turned and saw that my uncle was getting off the boat and the girl was getting on.

"Thank you so much." She bowed to him. "If there is anything that I can do to repay you just tell me."

"There is actually, stay with my nephew and make sure he doesn't get into any trouble."

"Ok. Thank you so much. My name's Mayrow by the way."

"Thank you Mayrow." He smiled his gentle smile. The ferry started to move and the girl turned to me.

"You're his nephew correct?" I nodded, unsure what to say. "I'm Mayrow." She smiled at me. "What's your name?"

"Lee. You don't have to stay with me; he's just an old coot."

"No. I told him I would stay with you. I have to do it."

I started to get mad. "I said not to stay with me so you won't do it."

"Yes I will." She glared at me defiantly. "And if you try to get away from me I'll…well let's just say that scar of yours will be a lot bigger."

"You're a…" She was a fire bender.

"That's right." She got close to me so that she could whisper in my ear. "And I know who you are. Prince Zuko."

"How do you know?"

Three people walked over to us. "Hello." One said. They all had armor on and the one that was currently speaking had a piece of a weed in his mouth. It was just too cliché for my taste.

"Hello." I glanced at him.

"I'm Jet, this is Longshot and Spellerbee." He pointed at the two standing next to him.

"My name's Lee."

Mayrow giggled and glanced at me. "I'm Mayrow."

The rest of our voyage consisted of Jet and his friends, the Freedom Fighters, talking to Mayrow and me. As we got off of the ship Jet pulled me to the side. "How would you like to join the Freedom Fighters?"

"I'd rather not. I want to just settle down and find my uncle."

"Ok." He walked away and Mayrow walked over to me.

"What was that about?" She had a cup of tea in her hands.

"Nothing. Where'd you get the tea?"

"From a vender. It's supposedly the best tea in Ba Sing Se!" She smiled proudly and took a sip. "Eww! It's so cold!" I rolled my eyes then noticed steam coming off of the tea.

"What do you think you're doing?" I hit the tea out of her hands. "If you hadn't noticed I'm not a very well-liked person. You can blow my cover!"

"Well excuse me Mr. Grumpy pants…" I sighed and grabbed her arm.

"Let's go." We started to walk, and soon we were at a house that my uncle said would be our new home. "I'm assuming you're going to insist on staying here?" She nodded. "Then you can use my room for the time being. I'll sleep on the couch."

"Are you sure? I mean I'm not trying to be ungrateful or anything, but I'm used to sleeping on couches. I doubt you are…" She had a small hint of pink on her cheeks.

"I'll be fine."

"Ok. Goodnight…Prince Zuko…" She walked to the room that I had pointed out to her previously.

"Prince…" It had been so long since I had been referred to as a prince by anyone but my uncle it was kind of…refreshing. No, not refreshing. Relieving. I was glad that someone from my nation still thought of me as the prince of the Fire Nation, not a traitor or an outsider.


	2. Chapter 2

~~~~~~Mayrow's POV~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Prince…" I vaguely heard him repeat after I went into the room. I honestly didn't feel comfortable sleeping in his room while he was on the couch. I sat on the floor in the room. I would have to wait a little while to be able to do what I wanted to do.

About an hour later I didn't hear anymore movement coming from outside of the room. I got up and peeked out of the room. I saw that the prince was sleeping on the couch. 'Good.' I thought to myself. I went over to the bed I was to sleep on and took a pillow and a blanket off of it. I walked out of the room and over to Zuko. He seemed so peaceful it made me smile. I gently lifted his head and put the pillow under it, then I put the blanket over him. He looked so much better with his short hair. The standard pony tail didn't suit him very well. I leaned down and kissed his forehead. "Goodnight Prince Zuko. Have sweet dreams ok?" I smiled gently and went back to the room I was previously in. I laid down and closed my eyes. Shortly afterwards sleep came to take me away.

~~~~~~Zuko's POV~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I opened my eyes after she went into the other room. "Why did she do that…?" I wondered out loud. I put my hand on my forehead where the girl had kissed it. It was still warm, that made me smile and I'm sure I was blushing. I pulled the blanket up a little and closed my eyes. I would deal with the girl in the morning.

When I woke up the next morning I smelled breakfast cooking, and heard someone humming a tune. "What are you doing?" I sat up and looked at Mayrow.  
>"Cooking breakfast." She smiled. "I'm making pancakes and I bought some fresh fruit!"<p>

"Why exactly?" I got up and walked over to her.

"I thought you would like it." She sounded so cute and innocent.

"Oh, well I don't like pancakes or fruit." I sounded ungrateful, but I was just trying to get her to leave.

"Then I'll make waffles."

"I don't like breakfast."

She glared at me. "Just because you're a prince doesn't mean that I won't kick your ass."

I laughed. "You wouldn't beat me in a fire bending match if you tried!"

"Wanna bet?" She slammed the bowl she was using on the counter. "Stop being a stuck-up brat just because I consider you a prince still! I showed loyalty!" she looked like she was going to cry. "Thanks for appreciating it!" She ran out of the house, crying. One of the tears hit my cheek. I hadn't planned on her getting that upset, let alone crying.

I sighed and looked at the half-cooked breakfast that the girl had made for me. I heard the front door open. "Listen, Mayro-" I cut myself off when I looked over and saw my uncle in the doorway. "Oh, it's you Uncle…" I looked down.

"What's wrong?" He walked over to me.

"That girl…she knows who I am. She made this food for me…but I got her mad and she left…"

"She knows who you are?"

I nodded. "She showed loyalty to me, and I just blew her off…"

"Go find her Zuko. Her loyalty lies with you." I left the house and tried to find the girl.


End file.
